Birgit Skarstein on body pressure and perfectionism

Vworld champion in rowing Birgit Skarstein (34) tells Her og Nå that she wants to be a counter voice to all the body pressure and perfectionism one encounters in social media.

Birgit tells KK that it is easy to feel that you are not good enough:

– It is easy to feel that there must be a lot of activity or that one must be “very” strong for it to be good. But just the normal function is actually quite crude.

She tells Roeren that what gives the greatest quality of life are precisely the little things:

– There is so much freedom in being able to walk down a flight of stairs or across a beach, or just being able to run away and pick up your aunt’s child when he falls.

– I didn’t even realize what I had until I lost it.

Turned my life upside down

In 2009, when Birgit was only 20 years old, she was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of a Norwegian hospital error. It happened after the epidural anesthetic did not leave the body, during what was supposed to be the last operation for a nasty ankle injury.

With that, her life was turned upside down, and there was a lot she had to find out and relearn:

– Like where can you go to a party, how can I continue studying… It was everything from learning the basics to the really big things. From how to put on jeans, how to cope with the enormous encroaching effect paralysis has on your life. And the feeling of shame about not getting things done, Birgit has previously stated.

More gold and world records

But the 34-year-old has shown on several occasions that the wheelchair should not mean the end of the sport. After the accident, she has won eleven WC medals and is the reigning world record holder in rowing.

In 2021, she also won gold in the Paralympics in Tokyo, and she believes that sport has been an important tool in being able to filter out the perfectionism that appears in the media.

– Now I try to be better at stopping and appreciating what I have and can do, without comparing myself to others or thinking about what could have been better. Just appreciate what is. It is a good starting point.

Looking forward to new gold

In the last week of April, the stage is set for the EC, and despite several injuries recently, the 34-year-old is ready for the challenge.

But what weighs most heavily on Birgit is the Paralympics in Paris, she tells VG.

– It has been a tough winter. But all thoughts are directed towards Paris. That’s where I should be at my best.